Nottingham Forest have not lost "incredible ground" on the play-offs places – but they must nevertheless urgently find a way to overcome both their lack of away wins and their inability to win back-to-back games, warns Martin O’Neill.

The Reds have now not won on the road in more than three months, following a defeat at Stoke City – which also saw them fail to grasp the opportunity to secure consecutive victories for the first time since September.

O’Neill believes Forest are still in there fighting, with none of the four teams immediately above them having won over the weekend, ensuring the gap between them and the top six is a not insurmountable four points.

But he is also well aware that, with 11 games remaining, time will quickly run out for Forest, if they do not overcome those two major issues.

“If you ask me, I don’t think we have lost incredible ground,” said O’Neill.

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“But we have to win some matches away from home. It is all very well saying that we should have won at West Brom and Preston – and we should have done.

“The fact is that we did not win those games and we did not win at Stoke, so now we have to address that.

“We have some matches left to win at the City Ground, but we need to win away as well.”

Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill (Image: Dan Westwell)

The Reds last won away at Hull in November and won’t get the opportunity to address that until they head to face relegation battlers Ipswich on March 16.

In the meantime, Forest’s next two games are on home soil, where they have won three games in a row – with Aston Villa and Hull the visitors.

But while their home form is more than respectable, the Reds’ return of two points from their last six away games is the third worst in the Championship, with only QPR and Ipswich having collected fewer points (one) during the same period.